A 24-hour recording of RNZ National. The following rundown is sourced from the broadcaster’s website. Note some overseas/copyright restricted items may not appear in the supplied rundown:
23 February 2016
===12:04 AM. | All Night Programme===
=DESCRIPTION=
Including: 12:05 Music after Midnight; 12:30 Spectrum (RNZ); 1:05 From the World (RNZ); 2:05 A Short History of Jazz - The 1980s (3 of 4, WFIU) 3:05 Enemy Territory, by Elspeth Sandys (14 of 15, RNZ); 3:30 An Author's View (RNZ); 5:10 Witness (BBC)
===6:00 AM. | Morning Report===
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ's three-hour breakfast news show with news and interviews, bulletins on the hour and half-hour, including: 6:16 and 6:50 Business News 6:18 Pacific News 6:26 Rural News 6:48 and 7:45 NZ Newspapers
=AUDIO=
06:00
Top Stories for Tuesday 23 February 2016
BODY:
The death toll in Fiji from Cyclone Winston reaches 21 and a little-known visa rule could open the door for tens of thousands of New Zealanders to get Australian citizenship.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 31'19"
06:05
Sports News for 23 February 2016
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 1'47"
06:09
Pre-1994 visit to Australia gives NZ migrants more options
BODY:
Tens of thousands of New Zealanders could be eligible for a visa that's a faster and cheaper way of getting Australian citizenship than the initiative announced by John Key and Malcolm Turnbul last week.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Australian citizenship, Australia
Duration: 2'14"
06:15
Small beekeepers in a war for land as honey war heats up.
BODY:
New Zealand's smaller bee keepers are worried about their future as the country's burgeoning honey industry becomes captured by larger scale corporate interests.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: bee keepers
Duration: 2'40"
06:20
Early business news
BODY:
Our business reporter Jonathan Mitchell is with us. Some relatively encouraging words from the head of Kiwibank.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 2'03"
06:25
Morning Rural News for 23 February 2016
BODY:
News from the rural and farming sectors.
Topics: rural, farming
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'10"
06:39
Years to rebuild village where half the houses impacted
BODY:
To Fiji now, where the death toll from Cyclone Winston is now 21 and it's feared that number will rise further when communication is restored to outlying islands.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Fiji, Cyclone Winston
Duration: 3'12"
06:50
Kiwibank CEO sees no need for lower rates at moment
BODY:
The chief executive of Kiwibank says he doesn't see a need for the Reserve Bank to lower interest rates any further -- for the time being at least.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Kiwibank
Duration: 1'04"
06:51
Freightways cautious in near-term
BODY:
The courier and information management company, Freightways, expects 2016 to be a challenging year, with global economic uncertainty and low dairy prices impacting its bread and butter courier business.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Freightways
Duration: 2'02"
06:53
NZ tech investor looking for Australian sharemarket listing
BODY:
A Christchurch based technology investor -- Powerhouse -- is planning a share float and listing on the Australian stock exchange because investors there are more enthusiastic about the company.
Topics: business
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Powerhouse
Duration: 1'48"
06:56
Video review platform signs up with Vimeo
BODY:
A Wellington-based video technology firm has just sealed a deal with the global video-sharing website - Vimeo.
Topics: business
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Wipster
Duration: 2'01"
06:58
Morning markets for 23 February 2016
BODY:
Wall Street is up due to a rise oil prices. The world's oil consumer body says it expects US shale production to fall this year and next - so that's boosted sentiment.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 1'02"
07:07
Sports News for 23 February 2016
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 1'44"
07:11
Death toll rises in Fiji,
BODY:
At least 21 people have been killed by the powerful cyclone which hit the islands of Fiji, and it's feared that number will rise further when communication is restored to outlying islands.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Fiji
Duration: 1'04"
07:12
Outlying parts of Fiji short of water and food
BODY:
People in one of the areas badly lashed by Cyclone Winston have had no help since the violent storm.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Fiji
Duration: 3'57"
07:16
Fijians try to make best of desperate situation.
BODY:
RNZ International's Alex Perrotet is in Nadi and he's on the line.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Fiji
Duration: 5'39"
07:21
A fast-track to Australian citizenship - but few know
BODY:
Tens of thousands of New Zealanders could be eligible for a visa that's a faster and cheaper way of getting Australian citizenship than the initiative announced by John Key and Malcolm Turnbul last week.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Australian citizenship, Australia
Duration: 3'53"
07:25
Canty doctor complains about "misleading" Ministry remarks
BODY:
A row over the funding of the health system in Canterbury is becoming increasingly bitter.
Topics: health
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Christchurch Hospital
Duration: 4'26"
07:30
Uphill battle for Black caps
BODY:
Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum has batted for New Zealand for the last time.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: cricket
Duration: 2'44"
07:37
Auckland man denies sale motive in threat to spike milk formula
BODY:
An Auckland businessman who threatened to spike infant milk formula with 1080 denies he did it to boost sales for his own pesticide.
Topics: crime
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: 1080 poison
Duration: 2'19"
07:39
Labour calling for deadline to Christchurch quake claims
BODY:
The Labour Party says it is time for a deadline for Christchurch quake claims to be resolved.
Topics: politics
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Labour
Duration: 6'38"
07:46
Upset over plans to install cameras in Marlborough Sounds
BODY:
Boaties in the Marlborough Sounds will need to be on their best behaviour soon.
Topics: technology
Regions: Marlborough
Tags: cameras
Duration: 3'05"
07:52
Lawyers unhappy with access to clients at Springhill Prison
BODY:
Waikato defence lawyers say it's virtually impossible to speak to their clients in Springhill Prison.
Topics:
Regions: Waikato
Tags: Springhill Prison
Duration: 3'06"
07:55
Waka legend Hek Busby makes legacy plea to Tribunal
BODY:
The revered navigator and waka-builder, Heke nuku mai Busby has made a plea to the Waitangi Tribunal for support to teach young people the arts of Polynesian voyaging.
Topics:
Regions: Northland
Tags: Waitangi Tribunal, Hek Busby
Duration: 3'26"
08:07
Sports News for 23 February 2016
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'07"
08:11
Fiji death toll rises to 29
BODY:
The death toll from Saturday night's cyclone in Fiji has gone up again and thousands of people are homeless right across the country with more than 8-thousand people remain in hundreds of evacuation centres.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Fiji, Cyclone Winston
Duration: 5'48"
08:17
Agencies race to get aid to devastated areas
BODY:
Aid agencies in Fiji are concerned about disease, with both water and food supplies compromised in the wake of the cyclone.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Fiji, Cyclone Winston
Duration: 5'08"
08:22
Land wars loom over manuka honey
BODY:
New Zealand's smaller bee keepers are worried about their futures as the country's burgeoning honey industry becomes captured by larger scale corporate interests.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: bee keepers
Duration: 3'31"
08:26
Iwi radio told it needs to move into digital age
BODY:
The Maori Broadcast Funding Agency is urging iwi radio stations to change the way they operate if they want to survive.
Topics: te ao Maori
Regions:
Tags: Iwi Radio
Duration: 3'17"
08:29
Kalamazoo shooting suspect due in court
BODY:
Forty five year old Uber driver Jason Dalton is due to appear in court this afternoon over the shooting deaths of six people in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Sunday.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: US, Jason Dalton
Duration: 3'05"
08:32
Markets Update for 23 February 2016
BODY:
A brief update of movements in the financial sector.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 54"
08:38
Research tackles literacy, obesity and mental health
BODY:
A new research project aims to slash the number of children who struggle to read and make New Zealand the only country in the world to successfully reduce childhood obesity.
Topics: education
Regions:
Tags: Better Start scheme
Duration: 2'37"
08:40
Agriculture should be part of ETS - former dairy farmer
BODY:
An agri business consultant says dairy farmers won't necessarily see their bottom line suffer if dairy is included in the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Topics: farming
Regions:
Tags: dairy
Duration: 3'18"
08:44
Is the Republican frontrunner a bully?
BODY:
The five remaining Republican rivals are descending on Nevada as they court voters before tomorrow's caucauses.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: US, Donald Trump
Duration: 7'48"
08:53
House of Commons debate exit from EU
BODY:
It's the Prime Minister of the UK versus the mayor of London.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: UK
Duration: 2'31"
=SHOW NOTES=
===9:06 AM. | Nine To Noon===
=DESCRIPTION=
Current affairs and topics of interest, including: 10:45 The Reading: Earthquakes and Butterflies by Kathleen Gallagher (2 of 5, RNZ)
=AUDIO=
09:08
David Kilcullen on the failures of the war on terror
BODY:
David Kilcullen is one of the world's most influential experts on counterinsurgency and military strategy. He was senior advisor to General David Petraeus in 2007 and 2008, when he helped to design and monitor the Iraq War coalition troop 'Surge'. He was then appointed special advisor for counterinsurgency to U S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Before this, he was chief strategist in the Counterterrorism Bureau of the US State Department, and he has also advised the UK and Australian governments, NATO and the International Security Assistance Force. He is a former Australian Army officer and the author of three books. His latest is called "Blood Year: Islamic State and the Failures of the War on Terror".
Topics: defence force, politics, law, history, author interview
Regions:
Tags: IS, Iraq, Syria, David Kilcullen
Duration: 26'24"
09:38
Policy changes needed for bigger uptake of EV's
BODY:
Research on how to get more electric vehicles on New Zealand roads suggests a major change in government policy is needed.Waikato University researchers have done a comparative study with countries that have a high uptake of EVs, including Germany, the US and Norway. The study - which was funded by the government through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment - has analysed the incentives available overseas which lower the price of electric vehicles. There are just over one thousand electric vehicles in New Zealand and 142 charging stations. The researchers - including energy and environment law expert - Barry Barton - say while there are a number of barriers to higher EV uptake, such as cost and charging infrastructure, more could be done at a central government level to get more EVs on the road, with price incentives for buying low or no emission vehicles.
Topics: technology, politics, transport
Regions:
Tags: electric vehicle, EV, emissions, Waikato University, Barry Barton, environment, feebate, cars, vehicles
Duration: 13'36"
09:52
US correspondent, Steve Almond
BODY:
Replacement of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Republican Party race for the presidential candidate.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: US
Duration: 4'53"
10:07
Neuroscientist and brain campaigner Malvindar Singh-Bains
BODY:
Dr Malvindar Singh-Bains is a Neuroscientist, researching Alzheimers and Huntington's Disease at Auckland University's Centre for Brain Research and the Neurological Foundation's Brain Bank. She's also a public awareness campaigner, educator and second-time finalist for the Young New Zealander of the Year award.
EXTENDED BODY:
“What you do now with your body when you’re young is going to impact you 60 years into the future. And with the ageing population on the rise, I think people need to look into this, I think people need to understand this” ~ Dr Malvindar Singh-Bains.
Neuroscientist Dr Malvindar Singh-Bains is at the frontier of brain research at Auckland University's Centre for Brain Research and the Neurological Foundation's Brain Bank.
Alongside working to find a cure for neurogenerative diseases – particularly Alzheimers and Huntington's Disease – she is a public awareness campaigner, educator and second-time finalist for the Young New Zealander of the Year award.
Malvindar Singh-Bains grew up in West Auckland. Her father immigrated from Fiji 35 years ago, her mother was born in New Zealand of Indian migrant parents.
She is the first member of her family on either side to go to university, and it was her grandmother's death after a neurogenerative disease which sparked her interest in the field of brain research.
Malvindar Singh-Bains talks with Kathryn Ryan:
Topics: health, education
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 33'07"
10:40
Book Review: Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist
BODY:
'Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist' by Sunil Yapa, reviewed by Charlotte Graham, published by Little Brown.
Topics: books
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'14"
11:07
Business commentator Rod Oram
BODY:
Record numbers of tourists in the sector. Chorus to pay a dividend.
Topics: business, technology
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 17'17"
11:25
50 years of Country Calendar
BODY:
Retiring presenter, Frank Torley, and producer Julian O'Brien look back on 50 years of Country Calendar, New Zealand's longest running television show.
EXTENDED BODY:
Retiring presenter Frank Torley and producer Julian O'Brien reflect on 50 years of Country Calendar – New Zealand's longest-running television show.
The pair talk with Kathryn Ryan about television trends, farming trends, a 'who could shoot the heaviest pig' tournament gone wrong and that unforgettable theme music:
Topics: farming, rural, media
Regions:
Tags: television, Country Calendar
Duration: 22'48"
11:48
Media commentator, Gavin Ellis
BODY:
Gavin Ellis is a media commentator and former editor of the New Zealand Herald. He can be contacted on gavin.ellis@xtra.co.nz
Topics: media
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 11'35"
=SHOW NOTES=
[image:60494:third] no metadata
09:05 Blood Year: David Kilcullen on the failures of the war on terror
David Kilcullen is one of the world's most influential experts on counterinsurgency and military strategy. He was senior advisor to General David Petraeus in 2007 and 2008, when he helped to design and monitor the Iraq War coalition troop 'Surge'. He was then appointed special advisor for counterinsurgency to U S Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice. Before this, he was chief strategist in the Counterterrorism Bureau of the US State Department, and he has also advised the UK and Australian governments, NATO and the International Security Assistance Force. He is a former Australian Army officer and the author of three books.
His latest is called "Blood Year: Islamic State and the Failures of the War on Terror".
09:30 Research finds policy changes needed for bigger uptake of electric vehicles.
Research on how to get more electric vehicles on New Zealand roads suggests a major change in government policy is needed.Waikato University researchers have done a comparative study with countries that have a high uptake of EVs, including Germany, the US and Norway. The study - which was funded by the government through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment - has analysed the incentives available overseas which lower the price of electric vehicles. There are just over one thousand electric vehicles in New Zealand and 142 charging stations. The researchers - including energy and environment law expert - Barry Barton - say while there are a number of barriers to higher EV uptake, such as cost and charging infrastructure, more could be done at a central government level to get more EVs on the road, with price incentives for buying low or no emission vehicles.
[image:60214:quarter]
09:45 US correspondent, Steve Almond
10:05 Neuroscientist and brain campaigner Malvindar Singh-Bains
Dr Malvindar Singh-Bains is a Neuroscientist, researching Alzheimers and Huntington's Disease at Auckland University's Centre for Brain Research and the Neurological Foundation's Brain Bank. She's also a public awareness campaigner, educator and second-time finalist for the Young New Zealander of the Year award.
10:35 Book Review: Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa
Reviewed by Charlotte Graham, published by Little Brown
10:45 The Reading: Earthquakes and Butterflies by Kathleen Gallagher (Part 2 of 5)
11:05 Business commentator Rod Oram
11:30 50 years of Country Calendar
Retiring presenter, Frank Torley, and producer Julian O'Brien look back on 50 years of Country Calendar, New Zealand's longest running television show.
[gallery:1785]
11:45 Media commentator, Gavin Ellis
Gavin Ellis is a media commentator and former editor of the New Zealand Herald. He can be contacted on gavin.ellis@xtra.co.nz
===Noon | Midday Report===
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ news, followed by updates and reports until 1.00pm, including: 12:16 Business News 12:26 Sport 12:34 Rural News 12:43 Worldwatch
=AUDIO=
12:00
Midday News for 23 February 2016
BODY:
An airforce Hercules drops aid to Fiji following the deadly cyclone and a man who threw sludge at Brownlee pleads guilty.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 15'18"
12:16
Mighty River delivers profit, but revenue and expectations fall
BODY:
Power company, Mighty River Power, has delivered a nine-fold increase in first half net profit, but revenue and full year profit expectations are down amid intense competition.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Mighty River Power
Duration: 2'17"
12:22
Earnings reports: Tourism Holdings, Fliways & Heartland Bank
BODY:
The campervan rental company, Tourism Holdings, has posted a strong half-year profit, with growth in New Zealand, offset by a flat Australian result.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'27"
12:23
Trade Minister talks Europe
BODY:
The Trade Minister, Todd McClay, says he wants New Zealand's small businesses to be real winners in any trade deal with the European Union, with reduced red tape and easier market access.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: EU
Duration: 1'10"
12:23
Midday Markets for 23 February 2016
BODY:
Angus Marks at First NZ Capital has the latest from the markets.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 2'12"
12:24
Kirkcaldie shareholders could see final payout of up to $7.5m
BODY:
The now closed Wellington department store, Kirkcaldie and Stains, says it expects the company will have assets worth $6.5m to $7.5m, after it's returned the bulk of its cash to shareholders.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Kirkcaldie and Stains
Duration: 34"
12:26
Midday Sports News for 23 February 2016
BODY:
The Black Caps battle on in Christchurch.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: cricket
Duration: 2'27"
12:35
Midday Rural News for 23 February 2016
BODY:
News from the rural and farming sectors.
Topics: rural, farming
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 9'16"
=SHOW NOTES=
===1:06 PM. | Jesse Mulligan, 1–4pm===
=DESCRIPTION=
An upbeat mix of the curious and the compelling, ranging from the stories of the day to the great questions of our time (RNZ)
=AUDIO=
13:06
First Song - Cold
BODY:
Drax Project were discovered by their manager busking out the front of Victoria University in 2013. They've gone on to garner a reputation as one of the best live bands to come out of the capital city. Jesse shares the Drax Project song 'Cold'.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 5'30"
13:20
Grafton To The Guggenheim - Max Gimblett
BODY:
Max Gimblett is one of New Zealand's most treasured and noted artists. He's celebrating his 80th birthday this summer and is reminiscing about his journey from Grafton to the Guggenheim. That's the title of a new book, about his life and work. And it celebrates Max's work in the mediums of painting, sculpture, ink drawings and artist's books.
EXTENDED BODY:
Max Gimblett is one of New Zealand's most treasured and noted artists. He's celebrating his 80th birthday this summer and is reminiscing about his journey From Grafton to the Guggenheim. That's the title of a new book about his life and work. The book celebrates Max's work in the mediums of painting, sculpture, ink drawings and artist's books.
Max Gimblett talks with Jesse Mulligan about his painting process, his gurus and his spiritual beliefs:
Max Gimblett on Saturday Morning (24 May, 2008)
Max Gimblett on Spiritual Outlook (26 June 2011)
Max Gimblett on Nine to Noon (24 June 2013)
Topics: arts, books
Regions:
Tags: painting, sculpture, ink, drawing
Duration: 14'56"
13:35
Picky Finicky Fussy Eating - Caitlin Daniel
BODY:
Having a child that is a picky eater is something that many parents face. And our next guest has been studying how finicky eating has particular effects on the poor. Caitlin Daniel is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Harvard. She's spent more than two years studying how 73 Boston-area families decided what to feed their kids.
EXTENDED BODY:
Having a child that is a picky eater is something that many parents face. Caitlin Daniel has been studying how finicky eating has particular effects on the poor.
As a doctoral candidate in sociology at Harvard, Caitlin has spent more than two years studying how 73 Boston-area families decided what to feed their kids.
She tells Jesse Mulligan that even though low-income parents often want to serve their children healthy food, many are deterred by the prospect the child will reject it so fall back on less healthy foods they know their child will eat:
Topics: food, inequality
Regions:
Tags: U.S.A.
Duration: 12'06"
14:10
Ringneck Parakeets - Brad Chandler
BODY:
A small group of foreign parakeets has been found at Hikutaia, near Paeroa in the North Island. The Ministry for Primary Industries is asking the public to report sightings so MPI can remove them from the wild and prevent damage to local birdlife, bats and crops.
Topics:
Regions: Waikato
Tags: animals, birds, parakeets
Duration: 6'47"
14:22
Great New Zealand Concerts - Cheap Trick
BODY:
They were bigger in Japan than anywhere else. But for their third album, the record company chose New Zealand and Australia as launch territories. The concert was also first to tour here, ythree in Auckland and one each in Wellington and Christchurch.
Topics: music, history
Regions:
Tags: Cheap Trick, The Steroids
Duration: 41'32"
14:47
Favourite Album - This Empty Northern Hemisphere
BODY:
Amy Dear chooses 'This Empty Northern Hemisphere' by Gregory Alan Isakov.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 15'58"
15:10
City of Thorns: 9 Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp
BODY:
In 1991, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees opened a camp on a dusty and desolate piece of desert in Kenya to provide safe haven for people fleeing the chronic civil war in Somalia. Now the camp is bigger than Christchurch and Dunedin combined. Dadaab was never supposed to be permanent, but the 500,000 refugees living there have no where to go. Former Aid worker Ben Rawlence profiles nine of the refugees who live there and describes the forces that are keeping them there in his new book, City of Thorns.
EXTENDED BODY:
In 1991, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees opened a camp on a dusty and desolate piece of desert in Kenya to provide safe haven for people fleeing the chronic civil war in Somalia. Now the camp is bigger than Christchurch and Dunedin combined. Dadaab was never supposed to be permanent, but the 500,000 refugees living there have nowhere to go.
Former aid worker Ben Rawlence profiles nine of the residents and describes the forces that keep them living in a constant state of limbo amidst filth and corruption in his new book City of Thorns.
He takes us inside life in Dadaab:
Topics: author interview, books, refugees and migrants
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 23'49"
15:45
The Panel pre-show for 23 February 2016
BODY:
Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 14'51"
21:46
Hangi stones and magnetism
BODY:
Hangi or oven stones are a record of the earth's magnetic field at the time they were heated and cooled, and they show a remarkable history of New Zealand's magnetic field for the past 600 years.
EXTENDED BODY:
“In the hangi process the oven stones are heated to red or even white heat, well above the temperature at which they are magnetised. As they cool down in situ they gain a record of the magnetic field.”
Gillian Turner, geophysicist, Victoria University of Wellington.
Hangi stones from archaeological sites around New Zealand are providing an extraordinary window into how the magnetic field in the southwest Pacific has been changing.
They have revealed that over the past 600 years the declination, or direction of a compass needle, has varied significantly, moving from 5° west of North to today’s 20° east of North.
The inclination of vertical component of the magnetic field hasn’t changed so dramatically. “It’s steepened by 3° or 4° over that time,” says Gillian Turner, a geophysicist at Victoria University of Wellington.
The changing strength of the magnetic field is the hardest component to measure, and Gillian says that while it doesn’t seem to have changed much in the past 400 years there are exciting hints at some of the oldest archaeological sites (between 400 and 600 years ago), that the “field has gone through some bigger amplitude, more wild, changes in strength. And that’s something we’re seeing in present day places like the South Atlantic Ocean.”
“In the south Atlantic there’s a big anomaly in the magnetic field that’s allowing the solar wind particles to get lower in the atmosphere,” says Gillian. “They are affecting things like satellite systems.”
Gillian points out that there are variations in the magnetic field in different parts of the world depending on the behaviour of the earth’s core directly below. The hangi stone project is focusing on the magnetic field in the southwest Pacific.
How the earth’s magnetic field works
“The earth’s magnetic field looks, to a very good approximation, as if you’ve got a bar magnet – a very strong bar magnet – at the centre of the earth. It creates a field that encompasses the earth, and … it protects us from charged particles that come at really high speeds from out of the sun,” says Gillian. “Of course geophysicists know that [what we really have] in the core of the earth is a churning cauldron of liquid iron at high temperature, and there are electrical currents in that iron that actually cause the magnetic field. And for us that’s interesting as we know that it’s dynamic, changing with time, and it’s those changes, over years and even thousands of years, that are at the heart of this project.”
There are three components to the magnetic field: declination (which is the horizontal component that we see when we use a compass), inclination (the vertical component) and strength.
In New Zealand we have records of declination that go back 400 years to early European explorers such as Abel Tasman.
A little later sailors and explorers began using a dip needle to record inclination, and by 200 years ago people began measuring the strength of the magnetic field.
The New Zealand magnetic observatory has kept good records for the last century.
There are also natural records of the magnetic field, kept by any material that has become magnetised in the magnetic field. For example, lava flows record the direction and strength of the magnetic field as they cool in place. Grains of sediment falling onto a lake or sea floor also record the magnetic field.
The first part of this Marsden-funded project was to prove that hangi stones could, indeed, record the magnetic field.
With the help of Terese McLeod and archaeologist Bruce McFadgen, from the School of Maori Studies at Victoria University, a hangi was held at Waiwhetu Marae at Matariki. This showed that the technique worked, and then Bruce helped Gillian and PhD student Rimpy Kinger excavate hangi stones at archaeological sites of various ages.
Rimpy explains that a key part of the process was ensuring that the oven stones weren’t moved before their orientation was clearly marked on them. She says that volcanic stones from the North Island kept a much clearer record than sandstone from the South island.
Gillian Turner is the author of the book 'North Pole, South Pole: the Epic Quest to Solve the Great Mystery of Earth's Magnetism.'
Bruce McFadgen has featured on Our Changing World previously talking about peat, pumice and tsunamis on the Kapiti Coast.
Topics: science, te ao Maori
Regions:
Tags: Maori ovens, hangi stones, geophysics, magnetism, magnetic field, archaeology, Marsden Fund
Duration: 15'26"
=SHOW NOTES=
1:10 First Song
'Cold' - Drax Project.
1:15 Grafton To The Guggenheim - Max Gimblett
Max Gimblett is one of New Zealand's most treasured and noted artists. He's celebrating his 80th birthday this summer and is reminiscing about his journey from Grafton to the Guggenheim. That's the title of a new book, about his life and work. And it celebrates Max's work in the mediums of painting, sculpture, ink drawings and artist's books.
1:33 Picky Finicky Fussy Eating - Caitlin Daniel
Having a child that is a picky eater is something that many parents face. And our next guest has been studying how finicky eating has particular effects on the poor. Caitlin Daniel is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Harvard. She's spent more than two years studying how 73 Boston-area families decided what to feed their kids.
1:40 Favourite Album
This Empty Northern Hemisphere - Gregory Alan Isakov.
2:10 Ringneck Parakeets
A small group of foreign parakeets has been found at Hikutaia, near Paeroa in the North Island. The Ministry for Primary Industries is asking the public to report sightings so MPI can remove them from the wild and prevent damage to local birdlife, bats and crops.
2:20 Great New Zealand Concerts - Cheap Trick
They were bigger in Japan than anywhere else. But for their third album, the record company chose New Zealand and Australia as launch territories. The concert was also first to tour here, ythree in Auckland and one each in Wellington and Christchurch.
3:10 Feature Interview - Ben Rawlence
In 1991, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees opened a camp on a dusty and desolate piece of desert in Kenya to provide safe haven for people fleeing the chronic civil war in Somalia. Now the camp is bigger than Christchurch and Dunedin combined. Dadaab was never supposed to be permanent, but the 500,000 refugees living there have no where to go. Former Aid worker Ben Rawlence profiles nine of the refugees who live there and describes the forces that are keeping them there in his new book, City of Thorns.
3:30 Our Changing World
Earth's magnetic field is in a constant state of flux. Gillian Turner, from Victoria University of Wellington, wondered if hangi stones, which become white hot when the earth oven is lit, might record the magnetic field as they cool. She tells Alison Ballance that an analysis of archaeological hangi stones has created a detailed record of the magnetic field in New Zealand dating back 600 years.
3:45 The Panel Pre-Show
What the world is talking about with Jesse Mulligan, Jim Mora and Julie Moffett.
===4:06 PM. | The Panel===
=DESCRIPTION=
An hour of discussion featuring a range of panellists from right along the opinion spectrum (RNZ)
=AUDIO=
15:45
The Panel pre-show for 23 February 2016
BODY:
Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 14'51"
16:00
The Panel with Gary McCormick and Diane Robertson (Part 1)
BODY:
Awaroa Beach sale; Mud-slinger lost son in quake; GPs not applying for lucrative Tokoroa job.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 23'28"
16:03
The Panel with Gary McCormick and Diane Robertson (Part 2)
BODY:
Filthy freedom camping; United Future leader call for Clean Slate review; and Awaroa Beach sale.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 26'56"
16:08
Introduction
BODY:
What the Panelists Gary McCormick and Diane Robertson have been up to.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'38"
16:08
Awaroa Beach sale
BODY:
The Givealittle campaign to buy back Awaroa Beach has reached what we thought was gong to be the moment of truth but still no announcement. $2 million was raised from the public but as Gareth Morgan predicted there were other big bidders.
Topics: environment
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 9'41"
16:17
Mud-slinger lost son in quake
BODY:
The man who threw muck over MP Gerry Brownlee says the government doesn't care. Do politicians need more protection though?
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: Canterbury earthquakes
Duration: 3'04"
16:22
GPs not applying for lucrative Tokoroa job
BODY:
Dr Mark Petersen of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practicioners discusses what will attract young doctors to jobs in small towns.
Topics: science, health, rural
Regions: Waikato
Tags: jobs, employment, doctors
Duration: 11'11"
16:34
Bob Jones suggests a Gareth Morgan statue
BODY:
Property magnate Sir Bob Jones wants to erect a statue in honour of philanthropist Gareth Morgan - Gareth the Redeemer.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 3'14"
16:36
Panel Says
BODY:
What Panelists Diane Robertson and Gary McCormick and have been up to.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 5'48"
16:43
Filthy freedom campers
BODY:
MacKenzie District Councillor Murray Cox discusses the need for more infrastructure in tourist towns to cope with a burgeoning number of tourists.
Topics:
Regions: Canterbury
Tags:
Duration: 7'29"
16:55
United Future leader call for Clean Slate review
BODY:
Peter Dunne is calling for a review of the Clean Slate legislation. He says it's too rigid.
Topics: politics, crime
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 3'20"
=SHOW NOTES=
===5:00 PM. | Checkpoint===
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ's weekday drive-time news and current affairs programme
=AUDIO=
17:00
Checkpoint with John Campbell, Tuesday 23th February 2016
BODY:
Watch Tuesday's full programme here. It begins 5 minutes in.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 00"
17:09
Surveying the cyclone damage in Ba
BODY:
In Fiji the scale of the damage from Cyclone Winston is becoming apparent.
Topics: Pacific
Regions:
Tags: Fiji, Nadi, BA, Unicef
Duration: 9'52"
17:20
Man who threw substance at Minister lost son in quake
BODY:
The man who threw brown slime at the Earthquake Recovery Minister yesterday says he did so because the government has shown no remorse to the families who lost loved ones in the earthquake.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: Canterbury earthquakes
Duration: 2'53"
17:24
Man says he was grieving for wife when made formula threat
BODY:
An Auckland businessman who threatened to spike infant milk formula with 1080 says he was grieving for his wife and in a bad state when he made the threat. Jeremy Hamish Kerr sent letters to Fonterra and Federated Farmers in November 2014, in a bid to get them to pressure the government into banning 1080.
Topics: crime
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: 1080, milk
Duration: 3'15"
17:25
Massey High students start uniform petition
BODY:
More than 1300 students, parents and supporters have signed an online petition calling for a summer uniform for Massey High School in West Auckland.
Topics: education
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags:
Duration: 1'43"
17:35
Evening Business for 23 February 2016
BODY:
News from the business sector including a market report.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 4'55"
17:38
Mass devastation across Fiji
BODY:
Aerial and ground surveys across Fiji have shown mass devastation across the country's hardest hit communities. Schools and houses were flattened at the height of the Category 5 cyclone as aid agencies try to reach the most vulnerable.
Topics: weather, Pacific
Regions:
Tags: Cyclone Winston, Fiji
Duration: 2'09"
17:43
House still damaged 5 years after quake
BODY:
Labour leader Andrew Little told Morning Report the Government needs to impose a deadline and take over any cases that haven't been resolved. Nick and Miranda Rout are one of those unresolved cases.
It's been five years and one day since the Linwood home they shared with their four children was destroyed.
But the Routs are still paying a mortgage on it and rent on another house while they wait for their insurance company IAG to resolve their claim. An entire part of the house is missing, windows are falling out and a wall is bowing.
Topics: politics
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Canterbury earthquakes, IAG
Duration: 15'36"
17:56
Black Caps set Australia 201 to win
BODY:
The Black Caps have set Australia 201 runs to win the second test in Christchurch, after a day of ups and downs for the New Zealanders.
Topics: sport
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: cricket
Duration: 2'13"
17:59
Uber driver charged with mass murder
BODY:
The alleged gunman in Saturday's Kalamazoo shooting rampage is facing 16 charges including six of murder. Jason Dalton, an Uber driver, shot multiple people over a five hour period.
Topics: crime
Regions:
Tags: U.S.A.
Duration: 1'25"
18:08
United Nations' Sune Gudnitz speaks from Fiji
BODY:
The death toll from Cyclone Winston has risen to 29 and authorities worry it will continue to climb. Two days after the devastating storm hit, aid workers are starting to reach some of the most isolated towns and villages.
But parts of Fiji are still cut off and there's concern when they are reached, the death toll will spike. The United Nations is working between the Fijian government and aid agencies to help get supplies where they're needed most.
Topics: Pacific, weather
Regions:
Tags: U.N., Fiji, Cyclone Winston
Duration: 4'49"
18:15
Tokoroa searches fruitlessly for a GP
BODY:
A Tokoroa doctor says he can't understand why no one is applying to work at his practice, despite promising a salary of several hundred thousand dollars.
Topics: health, rural
Regions: Waikato
Tags:
Duration: 3'18"
18:20
Opposition says Maori Party dressing up privatisation
BODY:
Opposition Maori MPs says the Maori Party is dressing up a sell off of state houses as Rangatiratanga and it's insulting. The Maori Party supported the Government's bill which opens up sale of state housing and hailed the move as Rangatiratanga - a description that opposition MPs say couldn't be further from sovereignty.
Topics: politics, te ao Maori, housing
Regions:
Tags: Maori Party, Labout Party
Duration: 3'47"
=SHOW NOTES=
===6:30 PM. | Worldwatch===
=DESCRIPTION=
The stories behind the international headlines
===7:06 PM. | Nights===
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ's weeknight programme of entertainment and information
=AUDIO=
19:12
Our Own Odysseys - Lucky Letter
BODY:
A friendly introductory letter written by Yvonne van Dongen helped her get the assistance she needed when she happened to contract amoebic dysentery in Burma or possibly Calcutta when travelling in the late 1970s.
Topics: life and society
Regions:
Tags: travel, dysentery, Nepal
Duration: 17'24"
20:40
Nights' Pundit - Left Thinking
BODY:
University of Otago political historian A.Prof Brian Roper deconstructs public policies from around the globe... The politics of Senator Bernie Sanders, America's longest-serving independent politician in Congress and a candidate for president in 2016.
Topics: politics, economy, life and society, history
Regions:
Tags: left thinking, Bernie Sanders, USA presidential elections, democratic socialism
Duration: 16'40"
20:59
Conundrum clue 3
BODY:
Conundrum clue 3.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 21"
21:59
Conundrum clue 4
BODY:
Conundrum clue 4.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 11"
=SHOW NOTES=
[image:60262:half]
7:12 Our Own Odysseys - Lucky Letter
a friendly introductory letter written by Yvonne van Dongen helped her get the assistance she needed when she happen to contract amoebic dysentery in Burma or possibly Calcutta when travelling in the late 1970s...
7:30 The Sampler
=SHOW NOTES=
=AUDIO=
12:00
The Best Arabic Music You’ve Never Heard
BODY:
Nick Bollinger reviews a diverse collection of contemporary Arabic sounds.
EXTENDED BODY:
Nick Bollinger reviews a diverse collection of contemporary Arabic sounds.
The music of a vast and ancient culture is – in case you needed to be reminded - too big to make sense of in a single CD. And this album helps make that point.
Now any anthologist hoping to survey the entire spectrum of contemporary Arabic music would be setting themselves an unwieldy task there to begin with: we’re talking twenty-two countries, from the Middle East to North Africa, not to mention Arabic-derived groups that pop up in places like Great Britain.
This collection takes in both The Faran Ensemble, an Israeli trio, who describe their music in somewhat hokey terms as ‘a magic carpet to take the listener on a voyage to faraway lands’, and The Jadid Ensemble, based in northwest England and led by guitarist Glenn Sharp with their fusion of flamenco, Turkish and Arabic styles. Along the way you’ll find among the dozen tracks the Arabic Rock Orchestra - a Palestinian band who combine classical Arabic melodies with the sounds of classic heavy metal - and the Arabic jazz of Algerian guitarist Anis Benhallack.
Valid as all of these acts may be, they actually don’t have much in common. Certainly there are instruments that recur through the dozen selections here – there’s lots of oud and plenty of dumbek – and there are those distinctive Arabic scales and microtones. But if it’s hardly a smooth mixtape, it does provide points of entry for a lot of different artists, covering a wide range of tastes – from ancient to New Age, metal to jazz to disco. And guaranteed there is more out there, for anyone who hears something they like and wants to go exploring.
Songs played: Faran Ensemble - Rain, Jadid Ensemble - Ilm, Arabic Rock Orchestra - Mijwiz, Anis Benhallak - S'ayda, Groupe Mazagan - Abdelillah
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: music, music review, The Best Arabic Music You’ve Never Heard
Duration: 5'36"
12:00
Ghosts of Highway 20 by Lucinda Williams
BODY:
Nick Bollinger travels through a double album of road songs and life stories from Lucinda Williams.
EXTENDED BODY:
Nick Bollinger travels through a double album of road songs and life stories from Lucinda Williams.
There’s something a lot of singer-songwriters will tell you: that it only gets harder. You’ll find countless examples of artists who wrote prolifically in a brilliant burst, usually in their mid-twenties, only to find the gaps between albums getting wider as the decades roll on.
But you would have to say Lucinda Williams is the exception to that rule. Though she set out young, playing folk and blues around the clubs and coffeehouses of the South, by the time she hit her thirties she had still released only one record of original songs. And though her next few albums established her as one of the pre-eminent Southern roots artists, the records continued to come slowly, as though their creation were costing the artist a part of her soul. Oddly, though, as Williams has grown older her output has accelerated – massively.
Ghosts Of Highway 20, Lucinda Williams’ new album, is a two-disc set. What’s more, it’s the second double album she’s released within eighteen months – that’s thirty-four new recordings in total, a productive streak by any standards.
The first thing that strikes me about Ghosts Of Highway 20 is not actually the songs, but the sound. It’s a slow, almost psychedelic groove, given form by chiming electric guitars, laying a bed for Lucinda’s languid vocals.
Like the opening song on 2014’s double, Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone, the album begins with a setting of a poem by Lucinda’s late father, the poet Miller Williams. It was always a fair bet that Lucinda’s vernacular style, her ear and eye for detail and terse economical use of language were a legacy of growing up with a poet and teacher, and this track would seem to confirm it.
And the song that follows is based on the words of another writer, Woody Guthrie, adapted from his recently discovered novel House Of Earth. Written in the voice of a prostitute – or perhaps more a sexual educator – it’s a weird monologue, a bit different from anything else in Williams’ catalogue. But it underscores a theme of this album, which is embodied in the title, Ghosts Of Highway 20. That highway – a major east-west interstate through the Southern United States – is dotted with places and people already memorialised in Williams’ songs, and this collection introduces a whole lot more.
As the album unfolds, character songs give way to love songs, then to even more vulnerable expressions as she confronts age and mortality. And one is reminded again of her father in ‘If My Love Could Kill’, in which she contemplates his decline and her own helplessness in the face of the inevitable.
But does Lucinda Williams still rock? The great self-titled record she made for Rough Trade in 1989, which was really her breakthrough, interspersed introspective stuff with deep driving tunes like ‘Passionate Kisses’ or ‘Changed The Locks’. And later successes like ‘Car Wheels On A Gravel Road’ at least delivered her dark meditations at sprightly tempos. The closest Lucinda gets to a rock tune here might be ‘Doors Of Heaven’, a swampy gospel song that would suit Mavis Staples or Tony Joe White.
More often the album feels like an electrified version of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska – in fact, Williams includes a version of a Springsteen song, ‘Factory’, which she treats to this same moody, ambient approach.
But if Lucinda, for whatever reason, is (in her early sixties) putting out more music than ever, how does it rate against her past work? These new songs function more as a kind of sustained mood-piece than as individual cuts, though there are certainly some standouts. And while she has refined her musical approach to a rootsy jazz-rock, her singing at times teeters on the edge of exaggeration. She’s trying different voices, I get that; and there’s certainly no lack of character in that slurry, just-woken-up-after-a-night-on-the-whiskey voice she often slides into. But if there are times when I crave less of the art piece and more of the concise punch of those breakthrough early albums, Lucinda Williams, is an artist; one of the very best. And on The Ghosts Of Highway 20 it may be the artist’s journey that is more important than the destination.
Songs played: Death Came, Louisiana Story, Place In My Heart, Can’t Close the Door on Love, If My Love Could Kill, Doors of Heaven, If There’s A Heaven
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: music, music review, Lucinda Williams
Duration: 16'23"
12:00
Living on a High Note by Mavis Staples
BODY:
Nick Bollinger checks a set of custom-written social commentaries from gospel veteran Mavis Staples.
EXTENDED BODY:
Nick Bollinger checks a set of custom-written social commentaries from gospel veteran Mavis Staples.
Nine years ago, the veteran gospel singer Mavis Staples, after a couple of decades in the commercial wilderness, signed to a punk-indie label and began her most consistent run of recordings since she was with her family band The Staples Singers in the 60s. And it seems to be continuing with Livin’ On A High Note. The album takes its title from a song by Memphis nouveau-roots singer Valerie June. And you’ll find songs here from other black roots revivalists like Son Little, Ben Harper and Aloe Blacc, all of whom have – to differing degrees – a handle on Staples’ traditional style.
But you’ll also find contributions from the likes of experimental indie artist Merrill Garbus, otherwise known as Tuneyards, who picks up on Staples’ affinity for social-political message songs with ‘Action’, a timely call to arms.
Staples’ other default setting is gospel, and the most explicitly Biblical song comes from Nick Cave, though there’s a typical Cave edginess in the way his ‘Jesus Lay Down Beside Me’ seems to mix the themes of Christianity and sex.
Production was overseen by the guitarist/singer M. Ward, known for his eclectic solo work, and poppier collaborations as She and Him with the actress Zooey Deschanel. But Ward’s greatest contribution here is saved for the very end of the disc, and it’s the sparest track of all: just his acoustic guitar and Mavis’s voice, and a set of lyrics Ward fashioned from a sermon by Martin Luther King. In the sixties, The Staples frequently travelled with King and performed at his rallies. Mavis had seen him just the day before he was assassinated. And she seems to pull a lifetime’s pain and hope into her performance.
Songs played: Take Us Back, High Note, Action, Jesus Lay Down Beside Me, Dedicated, Dedicated
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: music, music review, Mavis Staples
Duration: 7'43"
19:30
The Sampler for 23 February 2016
BODY:
This week in The Sampler Nick Bollinger reviews a double album of road songs and life stories from Lucinda Williams; a set of custom-written social commentaries from gospel veteran Mavis Staples; and a diverse collection of contemporary Arabic sounds.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: Lucinda Williams, Mavis Staples, Arabic Music
Duration: 29'41"
7:30 The Sampler
music album reviews & music discussion with Nick Bollinger
8:12 Window on the World - The Mechanic and the Mission
international public radio documentaries
8:43 Nights' Pundit - Left Thinking
University of Otago political historian A.Prof Brian Roper deconstructs public policies from around the globe... the politics of Senator Bernie Sanders, America's longest-serving independent politician in Congress and a candidate for president in 2016...
pundit roster: Economics, Philosophy, Right Thinking, Military History, Feminism, Left Thinking, Mathematics, NZ History, Religion & Kai A Miro (Maori Issues)
[image:57383:full]
8:59 conundrum clue 3
9:07 Tuesday Feature - Reith Lecture 2016 pt 2 of 2: Stephen Hawking - Black holes ain't as black as they are painted
[image:29203:half]
9:59 conundrum clue 4
10:17 Late Edition
a round up of today's RNZ News and feature interviews as well as Date Line Pacific from RNZ International
11:07 At the Eleventh Hour - The Shed
music from a myriad of cultures
... nights' time is the right time...
===7:35 PM. | The Sampler===
=DESCRIPTION=
A weekly review and analysis of new CD releases
=AUDIO=
12:00
The Best Arabic Music You’ve Never Heard
BODY:
Nick Bollinger reviews a diverse collection of contemporary Arabic sounds.
EXTENDED BODY:
Nick Bollinger reviews a diverse collection of contemporary Arabic sounds.
The music of a vast and ancient culture is – in case you needed to be reminded - too big to make sense of in a single CD. And this album helps make that point.
Now any anthologist hoping to survey the entire spectrum of contemporary Arabic music would be setting themselves an unwieldy task there to begin with: we’re talking twenty-two countries, from the Middle East to North Africa, not to mention Arabic-derived groups that pop up in places like Great Britain.
This collection takes in both The Faran Ensemble, an Israeli trio, who describe their music in somewhat hokey terms as ‘a magic carpet to take the listener on a voyage to faraway lands’, and The Jadid Ensemble, based in northwest England and led by guitarist Glenn Sharp with their fusion of flamenco, Turkish and Arabic styles. Along the way you’ll find among the dozen tracks the Arabic Rock Orchestra - a Palestinian band who combine classical Arabic melodies with the sounds of classic heavy metal - and the Arabic jazz of Algerian guitarist Anis Benhallack.
Valid as all of these acts may be, they actually don’t have much in common. Certainly there are instruments that recur through the dozen selections here – there’s lots of oud and plenty of dumbek – and there are those distinctive Arabic scales and microtones. But if it’s hardly a smooth mixtape, it does provide points of entry for a lot of different artists, covering a wide range of tastes – from ancient to New Age, metal to jazz to disco. And guaranteed there is more out there, for anyone who hears something they like and wants to go exploring.
Songs played: Faran Ensemble - Rain, Jadid Ensemble - Ilm, Arabic Rock Orchestra - Mijwiz, Anis Benhallak - S'ayda, Groupe Mazagan - Abdelillah
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: music, music review, The Best Arabic Music You’ve Never Heard
Duration: 5'36"
12:00
Ghosts of Highway 20 by Lucinda Williams
BODY:
Nick Bollinger travels through a double album of road songs and life stories from Lucinda Williams.
EXTENDED BODY:
Nick Bollinger travels through a double album of road songs and life stories from Lucinda Williams.
There’s something a lot of singer-songwriters will tell you: that it only gets harder. You’ll find countless examples of artists who wrote prolifically in a brilliant burst, usually in their mid-twenties, only to find the gaps between albums getting wider as the decades roll on.
But you would have to say Lucinda Williams is the exception to that rule. Though she set out young, playing folk and blues around the clubs and coffeehouses of the South, by the time she hit her thirties she had still released only one record of original songs. And though her next few albums established her as one of the pre-eminent Southern roots artists, the records continued to come slowly, as though their creation were costing the artist a part of her soul. Oddly, though, as Williams has grown older her output has accelerated – massively.
Ghosts Of Highway 20, Lucinda Williams’ new album, is a two-disc set. What’s more, it’s the second double album she’s released within eighteen months – that’s thirty-four new recordings in total, a productive streak by any standards.
The first thing that strikes me about Ghosts Of Highway 20 is not actually the songs, but the sound. It’s a slow, almost psychedelic groove, given form by chiming electric guitars, laying a bed for Lucinda’s languid vocals.
Like the opening song on 2014’s double, Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone, the album begins with a setting of a poem by Lucinda’s late father, the poet Miller Williams. It was always a fair bet that Lucinda’s vernacular style, her ear and eye for detail and terse economical use of language were a legacy of growing up with a poet and teacher, and this track would seem to confirm it.
And the song that follows is based on the words of another writer, Woody Guthrie, adapted from his recently discovered novel House Of Earth. Written in the voice of a prostitute – or perhaps more a sexual educator – it’s a weird monologue, a bit different from anything else in Williams’ catalogue. But it underscores a theme of this album, which is embodied in the title, Ghosts Of Highway 20. That highway – a major east-west interstate through the Southern United States – is dotted with places and people already memorialised in Williams’ songs, and this collection introduces a whole lot more.
As the album unfolds, character songs give way to love songs, then to even more vulnerable expressions as she confronts age and mortality. And one is reminded again of her father in ‘If My Love Could Kill’, in which she contemplates his decline and her own helplessness in the face of the inevitable.
But does Lucinda Williams still rock? The great self-titled record she made for Rough Trade in 1989, which was really her breakthrough, interspersed introspective stuff with deep driving tunes like ‘Passionate Kisses’ or ‘Changed The Locks’. And later successes like ‘Car Wheels On A Gravel Road’ at least delivered her dark meditations at sprightly tempos. The closest Lucinda gets to a rock tune here might be ‘Doors Of Heaven’, a swampy gospel song that would suit Mavis Staples or Tony Joe White.
More often the album feels like an electrified version of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska – in fact, Williams includes a version of a Springsteen song, ‘Factory’, which she treats to this same moody, ambient approach.
But if Lucinda, for whatever reason, is (in her early sixties) putting out more music than ever, how does it rate against her past work? These new songs function more as a kind of sustained mood-piece than as individual cuts, though there are certainly some standouts. And while she has refined her musical approach to a rootsy jazz-rock, her singing at times teeters on the edge of exaggeration. She’s trying different voices, I get that; and there’s certainly no lack of character in that slurry, just-woken-up-after-a-night-on-the-whiskey voice she often slides into. But if there are times when I crave less of the art piece and more of the concise punch of those breakthrough early albums, Lucinda Williams, is an artist; one of the very best. And on The Ghosts Of Highway 20 it may be the artist’s journey that is more important than the destination.
Songs played: Death Came, Louisiana Story, Place In My Heart, Can’t Close the Door on Love, If My Love Could Kill, Doors of Heaven, If There’s A Heaven
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: music, music review, Lucinda Williams
Duration: 16'23"
12:00
Living on a High Note by Mavis Staples
BODY:
Nick Bollinger checks a set of custom-written social commentaries from gospel veteran Mavis Staples.
EXTENDED BODY:
Nick Bollinger checks a set of custom-written social commentaries from gospel veteran Mavis Staples.
Nine years ago, the veteran gospel singer Mavis Staples, after a couple of decades in the commercial wilderness, signed to a punk-indie label and began her most consistent run of recordings since she was with her family band The Staples Singers in the 60s. And it seems to be continuing with Livin’ On A High Note. The album takes its title from a song by Memphis nouveau-roots singer Valerie June. And you’ll find songs here from other black roots revivalists like Son Little, Ben Harper and Aloe Blacc, all of whom have – to differing degrees – a handle on Staples’ traditional style.
But you’ll also find contributions from the likes of experimental indie artist Merrill Garbus, otherwise known as Tuneyards, who picks up on Staples’ affinity for social-political message songs with ‘Action’, a timely call to arms.
Staples’ other default setting is gospel, and the most explicitly Biblical song comes from Nick Cave, though there’s a typical Cave edginess in the way his ‘Jesus Lay Down Beside Me’ seems to mix the themes of Christianity and sex.
Production was overseen by the guitarist/singer M. Ward, known for his eclectic solo work, and poppier collaborations as She and Him with the actress Zooey Deschanel. But Ward’s greatest contribution here is saved for the very end of the disc, and it’s the sparest track of all: just his acoustic guitar and Mavis’s voice, and a set of lyrics Ward fashioned from a sermon by Martin Luther King. In the sixties, The Staples frequently travelled with King and performed at his rallies. Mavis had seen him just the day before he was assassinated. And she seems to pull a lifetime’s pain and hope into her performance.
Songs played: Take Us Back, High Note, Action, Jesus Lay Down Beside Me, Dedicated, Dedicated
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: music, music review, Mavis Staples
Duration: 7'43"
19:30
The Sampler for 23 February 2016
BODY:
This week in The Sampler Nick Bollinger reviews a double album of road songs and life stories from Lucinda Williams; a set of custom-written social commentaries from gospel veteran Mavis Staples; and a diverse collection of contemporary Arabic sounds.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: Lucinda Williams, Mavis Staples, Arabic Music
Duration: 29'41"
=SHOW NOTES=
===8:13 PM. | Windows On The World===
=DESCRIPTION=
International public radio features and documentaries
===9:06 PM. | None (National)===
=DESCRIPTION=
World renowned physicist Professor Stephen Hawking delivers his two BBC Reith Lectures on the subject of black holes. 2. Black holes ain't as black as they are painted! (2 of 2)
===10:00 PM. | Late Edition===
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ news, including Dateline Pacific and the day's best interviews from RNZ National
===11:06 PM. | None (National)===
=DESCRIPTION=
Award winning former British broadcaster Mark Coles presents his pick of the best new music releases and demos from around the planet. A glorious mix of brand new sounds from all over the world, real conversations with music makers and tales of everyday life as seen from an English garden shed. (10 of 13, MCM)